I have retired the long john for the season. I really felt I had to after I saw the first salt truck on the road. This is the Raleigh I mentioned in an earlier post, the two dollar garage sale find. It’s in very good shape for its age – I didn’t need to put much work into it to make it roadworthy. First thing I did was borrow my brother’s car polish and chrome renew/polish – after an hour it almost looked new. I put int new tubes and the creme tires from the Galaxie – and then I didn’t touch it again till last week. I was riding solo and wasn’t bothered by the fact that the gears didn’t shift properly and only one brake worked. We went down to our LBS – Cycle Butik – and picked up the brake pads, a light and a bell (see third picture). I also had to order another trailer hitch – the last one was attached to my husbands bike when it got stolen.

I’m using the trailer again because it’s warmer for the little ones. I would have liked to put some kind of windscreen on the long john – but I just couldn’t think of an easy way to do it. However – I am happy that the long john is parked, safe and dry and salt-free. I will try to keep the Raleigh in good condition, but a little rust on a thirty-six year old bike is certainly nothing to get too upset about.

This beauty is a vintage child seat I purchased earlier in the year – it folds up flat when no one is sitting in it. There’s usually some argument over who gets to sit in the “signal seat” – I don’t know why, I’d rather sit in the trailer where there’s no wind.

Here’s my new bell. I was a little disappointed looking at the selection of bells at Cycle Butik at first – there weren’t any hanging up that had the right sound. I didn’t want a ‘ping’ or ‘bing’… I really wanted a ‘driiiiiing’. You know what I’m talking about. Well, when I stood at the counter I spotted the most lovely hand-painted bells under the glass. It really was a tough decision – I think if he’d had any left handed bells I might have walked out of there with two.

Now – if you are still in need of a present for a cyclist on your list – these bells are perfect! Here’s a little more info, and how you can get your hands on one:

www.dringdring.ca

http://www.etsy.com/shop/dringdring

Or you can drop by Cycle Butik on Lakeshore W. to pick one up in person. If you do go in though – hands off the red dutch in the window, I’m saving my pennies to buy it in the new year.

• «Previous Post
• Next Post »

---